Saturday, February 13, 2010

"Flying" is an instrumental song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour release (two EP discs in the United Kingdom, an LP in the United States).

Origins

A rare Beatles instrumental (the first since "Cry for a Shadow" in 1961), although wordless chanting is heard at the end, it was the first song to be credited as being written by all four members of the band, with the writing credits of "Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey" (another being "Dig It" off the Let It Be album). It was recorded on September 8, 1967 with mellotron, guitar, bass, maracas, drums, and tape loops overdubbed September 28.

"Flying" was originally titled "Aerial Tour Instrumental." The end of the recording originally included a fast-paced traditional New Orleans jazz-influenced coda, but this was removed and replaced with an ending featuring tape loops created by John Lennon and Ringo Starr during the September 28 session. The loops initially made the song last 9 minutes 38 seconds, but the track was cut after only 2 minutes 17 seconds. Part of the loops were used alongside an element of the ending jazz sequence to make "The Bus," an incidental piece used at various points, for the TV movie. The track is likely to have originally started simply as a jam session — it is in simple 12-bar blues form in a straight-forward 4/4 time and the key of C major.

Recording

On the track as recorded and officially released, John Lennon plays the main theme on mellotron, accompanied by Paul McCartney and George Harrison (both on guitars, plus a later bass overdub) and Ringo Starr (on maracas and drums). All four Beatles added the chanting, and the track fades in an assortment of tape effects created by Lennon and Starr. This released version is identical to that heard on the soundtrack of the Magical Mystery Tour film; the music is accompanied in the film by color-altered images of landscape in Iceland taken from an airplane. Those shots are outtakes of the Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A different version can be found on some Beatles bootleg albums (such as Back-track 1), and features added Hammond organ and strange whistling noises in the early parts of the track. The jazz-influenced ending is also present on this version, which is slightly shorter, clocking in at around 2:08.

Influence on music by other artists

In 1977, The Residents covered "Flying" on the Residents Play the Beatles side of their The Beatles Play the Residents and the Residents Play the Beatles single release. Reportedly, the only reason they chose "Flying" was because it was the only song they could find that was credited to all of The Beatles as composers. The single is now fairly difficult to obtain, although the track can be found on the discontinued CD release of The Third Reich and Roll as a bonus track, as well as the re-released radio interview Eat Exuding Oinks.

It has been said that Noel Gallagher of Oasis used the song "Flying"'s chords to create the song "Shakermaker" on the album Definitely Maybe.

Friday, February 12, 2010

"Fixing a Hole" is a song mainly written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Recording

The first of two recording sessions for the song was at Regent Sound Studio in London on February 9, 1967 in three takes. Regent was used because Abbey Road was not available that night. This was the first time the Beatles used a studio other than Abbey Road for recording a track for an EMI album.

The lead vocal was recorded at the same time as the rhythm track, a change from their post-1963 approach of overdubbing the vocal.

According to McCartney, on the night of the session an unusual man appeared at the gate of McCartney's home and identified himself as Jesus Christ. After a cup of tea, and after getting him to promise to be quiet and sit in a corner, McCartney brought the man to the recording session. After the session the man left and was never heard from again.

In another version of the story, John Lennon arrived at the studio, found the man hanging around the front door, and it was Lennon who invited him in.

McCartney said the song was "another ode to pot," and considering the song's slightly psychedelic vibe (due to the heavy use of echo on McCartney's vocals and the overall use of rather surrealistic imagery in the lyrics), this may very well be true. He further said the song was about having the freedom to let one's mind roam freely. Another theory is that the song is about McCartney repairing the roof of his Scottish farmhouse, but McCartney said he didn't get around to that until much later. Many believe the song is a reference to track marks or "holes" left in a heroin addict's arm after getting their fix, though McCartney denied this interpretation.

McCartney has added to the confusion:

* In an interview with Q magazine from around the time of his 1997 album Flaming Pie, McCartney said that the song's lyric began with the simple idea of someone mending a hole in the road, and that he was living alone and smoking a lot of marijuana when he wrote it.

* In a 1967 interview, McCartney said the following lines were about those fans who hung around outside his door day and night and whose actions put him off.

See the people standing there who disagree, and never win And wonder why they don't get in my door

According to his diaries, Mal Evans (the Beatles' roadie) made some contributions to the lyrics of the song.

Other versions

* In the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, George Burns performed the song in a soft shoe style. * The Fray performed the song on 2 June 2007 for a 40th anniversary tribute to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. * Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release Pepper Front To Back. * Easy Star All-Stars covered the song in a reggae style for Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

"Golden Slumbers" is a song by The Beatles, part of the climactic medley on their 1969 album Abbey Road. The song begins the progression that leads to the end of the album and is followed by "Carry That Weight." The two songs were recorded together as a single piece, and both were written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney).

Original ballad and poem

"Golden Slumbers" is based on a poem by Thomas Dekker and written in a lullaby style. McCartney saw the sheet music for Dekker's lullaby at his father's home in Liverpool, left on a piano by his stepsister Ruth McCartney. McCartney could not read music at the time and was unable to read the score, and so he created his own melody and arrangement.

The words originally come from a lullaby in "The Pleasant Comodie of Patient Grissill" written about 1603.

Recording

McCartney was the lead vocalist. He begins the song in a soft tone appropriate for a lullaby, with piano, bass guitar, and string section accompaniment. Beginning with the line "Once there was a way to get back homeward," the drums come in and McCartney switches to a stronger tone, both of which emphasize the switch to the refrain. McCartney said, "I remember trying to get a very strong vocal on it, because it was such a gentle theme, so I worked on the strength of the vocal on it, and ended up quite pleased with it."

The main recording session for "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight" was on 2 July 1969. John Lennon was not present. He was injured in a motor vehicle accident in Scotland on 1 July 1969, and was hospitalized there until 6 July.

Additional vocals were added in an overdub session on 30 July 1969, the same day the first trial edit of the side two medley was created. Lennon did participate in this session. On 15 August, orchestral overdubs were made to "Golden Slumbers" and five other songs on Abbey Road.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Monday, February 08, 2010

"I hadn't had any psychedelic drugs for almost ten years since the '60s, when we were all loonies, so I thought maybe I should have it to just see . . . if it reminds me of anything . . . You have to be careful [with mushrooms] because they're so good. That stuff is very organic, you know. You feel great, and everything is in perfect focus, even the physical body feels good. But because I felt so good, I kept on eating them all day. I nearly did myself in; I had too many. I fell over and left my body, hit my head on a piece of concrete -- but they were great."-1979

Sunday, February 07, 2010

"You see, we believed the Beatles myth too. I don't know whether the others still believe it, but we were four guys that--I met Paul and said, "Do you want to join me band?" and then George joined and then Ringo joined. We were just a band who made it very, very big--that's all. Our best work was never recorded.

"Because we were performers in spite of what Mick [Jagger] says about us, in Liverpool, Hamburg and around the dance halls. What we generated was fantastic when we played straight rock, and there was nobody to touch us in Britain. But as soon as we made it, the edges were knocked off. Brian Epstein put us in suits and all that, and we made it very, very big. We sold out. The music was dead before we even went on the theatre tour of Britain. We were feeling shit already, because we had to reduce an hour or two hours' play--and which we were glad [to do] in one way--to twenty minutes, and go on and repeat the same twenty minutes every night. The Beatles' music died then, as musicians. That's why we never improved as musicians. We killed ourselves then to make it--and that was the end of it. George and I are more inclined to say that. We always missed the club dates 'cause that's when we were playing music. Then later on we became technically efficient recording artists, which was another thing. Because we were competent people, whatever media you put us in, we can produce something worthwhile."-1970